Friday, December 25, 2009

WordWeb English-English Dictionary 5.52 (EXE)

WordWeb English-English  Dictionary 5.52 enables you to look up an English word in any programme in two ways. Firstly, you can hold down the Ctrl key and right-click the word with the mouse; alternatively, you can press Ctrl + Alt + W. Secondly, you can open the programme and put in a word to look up. With WordWeb Dictionary 5.52, you can know lots about the English vocabulary through the look-up options (e.g., Nearest, Synonyms, Type of, Types, & See also).

In addition, you can use it to log in to Wikipedia, Wiktionary, WordWeb Online, Ar.Wikipedia (Arabic Wikipedia), and Ar.Wiktionary (Arabic Wiktionary).

Download WordWeb English-English Dictionary 5.52 (EXE)right now. 

Saturday, November 21, 2009

"A Heart of Stone," by Beckie M.

"A Heart of Stone"

Once I had a heart of stone
For it had surely lost its home
It could not love or wanted too
But in my life, then came you.

The stones began to fall away
As happiness began to fill my day
A feeling so sweet and special too
Could this be love, I pray is true.

My heart now sings a song of love
For I know that it was sent from above
My heart is warm, there is no cold
Hard no more, but with wings of gold.

It soars above the sky so high
Sometimes I think of why and cry
My heart now sings a loving song
For the part of me I thought was gone.

The gift that you have given me
Is so important, can't you see
No more sadness or being alone
For now my heart returns to home.

"A Slumber did My Spirit Seal," by William Wordsworth

"A Slumber did my Spirit Seal"

A slumber did my spirit seal;
I had no human fears:
She seemed a thing that could not feel
The touch of earthly years.

No motion has she now, no force;
She neither hears nor sees;
Rolled round in earth's diurnal course,
With rocks, and stones, and trees.

Saturday, November 14, 2009

"She Dwelt Among the Untrodden Ways," by William Wordsworth

 "She Dwelt Among the Untrodden ways"

She dwelt among the untrodden ways
Beside the springs of Dove,
A Maid whon there were none to praise
And very few to love:

A violet by a mossy stone
Half hidden from the eye!
 --Fair as a star, when only one
Is shiningin in the sky.

She lived unknown, and few could know
When Lucy ceased to be;
But she is in her grave, and, oh,
The difference to me!

Saturday, October 31, 2009

"When We Two Parted," by George Gordon, Lord Byron

"When  We Two Parted"

When we two parted
In silence and tears,
Half broken-hearted
To sever for years,
Pale grew thy cheek and cold,
Colder thy kiss;
Truly that hour foretold
Sorrow to this.

The dew of the mourning
Sunk chill on my brow--
It felt like the waning
Of what I feel now.
Thy vows are all broken,
And light is thy fame:
 hear thy name spoken,
And share in its shame.

They name thee before me,
Aknell to mine ear;
A shudder comes o'er me--
Why wert thou so dear?
They know not I know thee,
Who knew thee too well:--
Long, long shall I rue thee,
Too deeply to tell.

In secret we met--
In silence I grieve,
That thy heart could forget,
Thy spirit deceive.
If I should meet thee
After long years,
How should I greet thee?--
With silence and tears.

"Love's Philosophy," by Percy Bysshe Shelley

"Love's Philosophy"

I
The fountains mingle with the river
And the rivers with the Ocean,
The winds of Heaven mix for ever
With a sweet emotion;
Nothing in the world is single;
All things by a law divine
In one spirit meet and mingle.
Why not I with thine?--


II
See the mountains kiss Heaven
And the waves clasp one another;
No sister-flower would be forgiven
If it disdained its brother;
And the sunlight clasps the earth
And the moonbeams kiss the sea:
What is all this sweet work worth
If thou kiss not me?

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

"Something Childish, but Very Natural," by Samuel Taylor Coleridge

"Something Childish, but very Natural"

If I had but two little wings
And were a little feathery bird,
To you, I'd fly, my dear!
But thoughts like these are idle things,
And I stay here.

But in my sleep to you I fly:
I'm always with you in my sleep!
The world is all one's own.
But then one wakes, and where am I?
All, all alone.

Sleep stays not, though a monarch bids:
So I love to wake ere break of day:
For though my sleep be gone,
Yet while 'tis dark, one shuts one's lids,
And still dreams on.

Monday, October 19, 2009

Many Recitations of the Holy Qur'an

The following is a link including ten groups of full recitations of the Holy Qur'an. The recitations are by
1. Abu-Bakr Al-Shateri,
2. Ahmad Bin-Ali Al-Ajami,
3. Al-Ghamidi,
4. Al-Husari,
5. Al-Ghamidi--once again,
6. Muhammad Jibreel,
7. Rashid Al-Afasi,
8. Salah Budair,
9. Yasin Al-Jazairi,
10. Al-Moyakali.
(NB Some of these names are rendered just as they are on the respective site because I could not recognize them.)

Monday, October 12, 2009

"To Mary," by Charles Wolfe

"To Mary"

If I had thought thou couldst have died,
I might not sweep for thee;
But I forgot, when by thy side,
That thou couldst mortal be:
It never through my mind had past
The time would e'er be over,
And I on thee shouldst smile on me!


And still upon that face I look,
And think 'twill smile again;
And still the thought I will not brook,
That I must look in vain.
But when I speak--thou dost not say
What thou ne'er left'st unsaid;
And now I feel , as well I may,
Sweet Mary, thou art dead!


If thou wouldst stay, e'en as thou art,
All cold and all serene--
I still might press thy silent heart,
And where thy smiles have been.
While e'en thy chill, blake corse I have,
Thou seemest still mine own;
But there--I lay thee in thy grave,
And I am now alone!


I do not think, where'er thou art,
Thou hast forgotten me;
And I, perhaps, may soothe this heart
In thinking too of thee:
Yet there wqas round thee such a dawn
Of light ne'er seen before,
As fancy never could have drwan,
And never can restore!

Arabic Translations of Some of Edward Said's Books

Here are links of some of Edward Said's books that are translated into Arabic.

Tuesday, September 29, 2009

The Digital Archieve of Bibliotheca Alexandrina


Here is the link of the Digital Assets Repository (DAR) pertaining to Bibliotheca Alexandrina (viz., Alexandria Library), where you can read more than 1000 Arabic books and more than 4000 foreign books as a start.

Saturday, September 26, 2009

Al-Albani.net

Here is the link of the great "muhadeth" (i.e., a scholar of Phrophet Muhammad's Traditions) Al-Albani, where you can download lots and lots of his legacy whether the listening material, the pdf books, the electronic books, the electronic encyclopedias of his writings, his "fatawa" (i.e., Islamic religious rules of issues as presented by a particular "sheikh" [i.e., a title of the Moslem scholar or of the Moslem man of religion] in respense to Moslems' questions), and many other things.

ARIEL - A Review of International English Literature

Here is the link of the English Literature journal called ARIEL - A Review of International English Literature, where you can read and download some research papers for free.

University of Alberta Libraries Journal Hosting

Here is the link of the University of Alberta Libraries Journal Hosting, where you can read and download some research papers of the respective journals.

Live Islam - The KSA Radio Channel of the Holy Qur'an


Here is the link of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) radio channel of the Holy Qur'an, the so-called "Live Islam".
I hope you enjoy listening to its programmes.

Friday, August 28, 2009

كتاب "طهارتك أختى المسلمة" - رغداء باكور الياقتى

السلام عليكم و رحمة الله و بركاته
أهديكم كتاب "طهارتك أختى المسلمة" لرغداء باكور الياقتى و قد كنتُ حمَّلتُ الكتاب مِن روابط مكتبة الأسكندرية فبل أن تمّحى. و لكنَّ الكتاب بصيغة
PTIFF
و هى صيغة ملفات صور
أى أنَّ الكتاب على شكل صورٍ فى مجلدٍ مضغوطٍ
و قد وضعتُ الكتاب على حسابين لى أحدهما فى
4Shared
و الآخر فى
MediaFire

أسألكم الدعاء

كتاب "أسرار الصوم" لأبى حامد الغزالى

السلام عليكم و رحمة الله و بركاته
أهديكم كتاب "أسرار الصوم" لأبى حامد الغزالى. و قد كنتُ حمَّلتُ الكتاب مِن روابط مكتبة الأسكندرية فبل أن تمّحى. و لكنَّ الكتاب بصيغةPTIFF
و هى صيغة ملفات صور
أى أنَّ الكتاب على شكل صورٍ فى مجلدٍ مضغوطٍ
و قد وضعتُ الكتاب على حسابين لى أحدهما فى
4Shared
و الآخر فى
MediaFire

أسألكم الدعاء

Monday, June 1, 2009

مين اللى قال: إنّ الوطن أجمل مكان



مين اللى قال: "إنّ الوطن أجمل مكان"
"وأجمل ما فيه بيتك .. و لو جحر لْفيران؟"
خجلان أقول: "فينو الوطن؟ و البيت دا فين؟"
أمَّا الفيران، يا صاحبى .. فلتحيا الفيران!
عجبى

!!

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

أمة "إقرأ" و المكتبة الوقفية

منذ زمنٍ بعيدٍ، قال العالم و العابد العربىّ الكبير "سعيد بن المبارك بن على بن عبد الله الإمام ناصح الدين" - كما وردت تسميته فى كتاب السيوطى "بغية الوعاة فى طبقات اللغويين و النحاة" - أقول قال العالم والعابد الكبير "بن المبارك":
لا تحسبنْ أنْ بالكُـ *** ـتبِ مثلنا ستصيرُ
فللدجاجة ريشٌ *** لكنَّها لا تطيرُ
نعم، ولكنَّ من عزم أمَّتنا - فى عصرها المجيد - أنها كانت تأخذ بالأسباب و تتوكل على المُسبِّب ربِّ الأسباب.

وإنَّ من أسباب تحصيل العلم - كما قال "الشافعى" فى ديوانه - ما يلى:
أخى، لن تنال العلم إلا بستةٍ *** سأنبيك عن تفصيلها ببيانِ
ذكاءٍ و حرصٍ و اجتهادٍ و بلغةٍ *** و صحبة أستاذٍ و طول زمانِ
أو هى (منسوبةً إلى إمام الحرمين - كما سمعنا من الشيخ الجليل "أبى إسحاق الحوينىِّ"):
ذكاءٍ و حرصٍ و افتقارٍ وغربةٍ *** و تلقين أستاذٍ و طول زمانِ

و على كلٍّ، فلتعذُّر وجود "الأستاذ" فى هذا الزمان، نجد الكتاب و قد ارتقت منزلته عند اللبيب الفَطِن فصار من أهم وسائل تحصيل العلم . و عن قيمة المعلم "الأستاذ" و قيمة "الكتاب"، أقول أنا متلعثمًا:
لو لم توقِّر مَن يعلِّمك، انتبهْ *** إنَّ المعلِّم سيِّد العلماءِ
لولاه ما خطَّ العباقرة اسمهم *** و لما استبانوا (بائهم) من (ياءِ)
أمَّا الكتاب، فذا رسول العِلْم؛ ما *** هان (الرَّسول) سوى على الجهلاءِ

لذا فإنِّى أسعد بأن أدلَّكم على رابط "المكتبة الوقفية" العظيمة، و جزى الله القائمين عليها خير الجزاء. و هاكم الرابط الذى لا يحتاج إلى تعريفٍ لكلّ من يدرك عِظَم "المكتبة الوقفية" العملاقة:
و أنا أرجو كلّ مَن يقرأ هذه الرسالة أن يبعث بها إلى كلّ مَن يعرفه - فردًا كان أو مجموعةً بريديةً أو منتدى - إلى كلّ من تعرف لعلها تُتَداول و ينتفع بها أخوانُنا فيَكتُب لنا اللهُ - سبحانه - بها الأجر أحياءً و أمواتًا.
و من الأجدر بنا - نحن المتعلمين - أن نحذوَ حَذْوَ أسلافِنا العلماء المجدين و أن نقتفىَ أثرَهم وإن لم نكن بالغِى مكانتهم لسبقهم إيَّانا فى كلِّ علمٍ و فنٍّ. لنكنْ الآن - كما كان أسلافُنا - أمةَ العلمِ .. أمةَ "إقرأ" و لنحققْ مقولَ قولِ من أدرك حكمةَ القدوةِ و الاتباعِ فقال:
فتشبَّهوا إنْ لم تكونوا مثلهم *** إنَّ التَّشَبُّه بالرِّجال فلاحُ
و إذا حاول الشيطان أن يثبِّط من عزائمنا، فلنأخذ العِبْرَة من قول الشاعر الجاهلى "عنترة بن شداد" (المُتوَفَّى سنة 600 م - كما ذكر أحمد بن أمين الشنقيطى فى كتابه "المعلقات العشر و أخبار قائليها") حين شرع فى كتابة معلقته بعد أن سبقه من سبقه من فحول الشعر العربى الجاهلى و على رأسهم جميعًا "امرؤ القيس". فلقد أتى فيها بالجديد المُتحِف و هو الذى قال إجلالاً لمن سبقه و عرفانًا بصنيعهم و اعترافًا بعِظَم الأمرِ عليه و اعتذارًا مسبقًا لما قد يقع فيه من خطل، قال - و هو من هو - فى مطلع معلقته المشهورة:
هل غادر الشعراء من مُتَردَّمِ *** أم هل عرفتَ الدار بعد توهُّمِ
برغم كل مَن سبقه و ما سبقوه به و برغم اعترافه بذلك (فى الشطر الأول من البيت السابق)، فقد أتى "عنترة" بالجديد لذا لم يَنْسَه التاريخ و لم ينْسَه العالم. و صدق القائلُ:
الناس فى صورة التشبيه أكْفاءُ *** أبوهمُ (آدم) و الأمُّ (حوَّاءُ)
فإن يكن لهم فى أصلِها شرفٌ *** يُفَاخرون به فالطِّينُ و الماءُ
ما الفضلُ إلا لأهلِ العلمِ؛ إنَّهمُ *** على الهُدى لمن اهتدى أدلاءُ
و وَزْنُ كلِّ امرئٍ ما كان يحسنُه *** و الجاهلون لأهلِ العلمِ أعداءُ
إن مسألة سبق أسلافنا الأفاضل بالنسبة لنا إنما هى مسألة مسئولية تقوم على العمل و الالتزام و هى مسألة قدوة تقوم على العرفان و الاتباع؛ فإذا اضطلعنا بحمل همِّ المسئولية قولاً و عملاً، فعلينا أن نسير على الدرب اعترافًا بالفَضْل و استمراريةً للسَّبْق الذى هو منوطٌ بأمتنا "خير أمةٍ أُخرجَت للناس". و لاشكَّ أنَّ اللهَ - عزَّ و جلَّ - سيكتب للدِّين أن يتجدَّدَ قَشِيبُه على أيدى المُجِدِّين مِنَّا.

اللهم ارزقنا العلم
و هيئ لنا سُبُله

و يسِّر لنا أسبابه
و أعنَّا على الأخذ بها
بجدٍّ و همةٍ
اللهم ارزقنا حُبَّه
و حُبَّ السعى فى طلبه
من غير كَلَلٍ و لا مَلَلٍ
اللهم وفِّقنا إلى العمل به
على الوجه الذى يرضيك عنَّا
من غير تَبَاهٍ و لا تَعَالٍ
و لا رياءٍ أو شركٍ

اللهم اجعل ثمرة علمنا العمل
و علامة زيادتهما التواضع
و آية عرفاننا بفضلك العبودية و الشكر

اللهم آمين
اللهم آمين

Monday, May 25, 2009

الموت ده عيِّل أوى



الموت ده عيِّل أوى . . . بس أحنا مش عارفين
لمَّا خطر لى اندهه . . . قال لى أجرى مش لاعبين
و من ورايا استخبى . . . قال لى: "حذّر فين؟"
أتاريه خطف لعبتى . . . و أصحابى . . . و الغاليين!
عجبى
!!

لمَّا اجى اموت


لمَّا اجى اموت .. هكتب على الشاهد حروف اسمى .. و "طظ"
إنسان .. و شاعر .. وسط عالم عاتى .. فظ
عالِم .. لكين .. حضراتكو أعلم مرتين
و الدنيا إيه .. غير فهلوة .. و تنطيط .. و حظ !
عجبى
!!

نعيب زمانَنا

هل تذكرون بيتَ الشعر الشهير الذى يتبادله الكثير منا عندما تأخذهم نزعةُ جلدِ الذات، فينطلقون به و كلُّهم يقينٌ بأنّّ هذا هو الرجوع إلى الحق؟ هل تذكرون ذلك البيتَ الذى يقول الشاعرُ فيه:
"نعيب زمانَنا و العيبُ فينا *** و ما لزمانِنا عيبٌ سِوانا"؟

إنَّ المفارقة الأولى - يا إخوانى - هى أنَّنا، إذ نتشدَّق بهذا البيت، إنَّما نخلط بين بيتين من نفسِ القصيدةِ فى حين أنَّنا نقوله لنصيبَ به كبدَ الحقيقة، أو هكذا نزعم!

و المفارقة الثانية هى أن قائلَ هذا البيتِ نفسَه و احدٌ ممن اشتهر فى عصره بشكوى الدهر فى حين أنَّنا نستشهد بكلامِه لنردَّ الحقَّ إلى أهلِه، و نكفَّ عن شكوى الدهر! (يعنى - لا مؤاخذة - "جبتك يا عبد المعين تعيننى، لاقيتك يا عبد المعين تتعان".)

و الحقيقة إنَّ كلُّ واحدةٍ من هاتين الملحوظتين إنما تؤكد أنَّ شكوى الدهر صفةٌ - لا محالةَ - غالبةٌ. و السؤال الذى يطرح نفسه هنا و بشدةٍ هو: "لماذا؟".

و إليكم الأبيات التى تُنسَب إلى الشاعر ابن لنكك البصرى (؟ - 360 هـ/ 970 مـ) الذى عاصر المتنبى و - يا للعجب، أو و لا عجب - هجاه
يعيب الناسُ كلُّهم الزمانا *** و ما لزمانِنا عيبٌ سِوانا

نعيب زمانَنا و العيبُ فينا *** و لو نطق الزمانُ إذن هجانا

ذئابٌ كلُّنا فى زِىِّ ناسٍ *** فسبحان الذى فيه برانا

يعاف الذئبُ يأكل لحم ذئبٍ *** و يأكل بعضُنا بعضًا عيانا

A Cairine Arabic Translation of Langston Hughes's "Question [1]"

- The following is Hughes's poem.

When the old junk man Death
Comes to gather our bodies

And toss them into the sack of oblivion,
I wonder if he will find
The corpse of a multi-millionaire
Worth more pennies of eternity,
Than the black torso of
A Negro cotton-picker?
Langston Hughes
- And here is my Arabic translation.

يا هل ترى .. لما يجينا الموت بذات شخصه العتيد
ياخدنا يرمينا ف شوال الغربة و النسيان بعيييد

هتساوى عنده جتة الغلبان .. جسد هارون رشيد؟
هيساوى بين أسود و أبيض .. أو عبيد شقيوا و سيد؟

مرسى حسن 

Me?

In his fascinating poem "Theme for English B," Langston Hughes, the black American poet and writer, epitomizes the answer to the identity question when in a question-answer form he eloquently says:

Me––who?
Well, I like to eat, sleep, drink, and be in love.
I like to work, read, learn, and understand life.
I like a pipe for a Christmas present,
Or records – Bessie, bop, or Bach.

Simple as it is, I am one of the dwellers of this BIG, BIG universe. Say, I am you, but with a different name that may be an indication of a different tongue, a different culture, a different race, a different nationality, and a different religion. Still, WE ARE ALIKE AND DISTINCT.

For earthly traditions of introduction, however, I am Mursi Hasan, a Cairine, Egyptian dweller. I do not have much to say about myself. I am a lecturer assistant, a researcher in linguistic stylistics, a freelance English-Arabic-English translator, an Arab poet (or so I assume) and a good reader.

I believe that teaching is a mission and that a teacher is not that the all-knowing sort of being, if ever there was one. I always try to help; as the great Andrew Martin (viz., the persona acted by Robin Williams in "Bicentennial Man") used to say, "One is glad to be in service." My students, on the other hand, help me the same way I help them; it is a reciprocal give-and-take process. This is why I would rather be a friend to them and be criticized face-to-face than be a dictator and be hated and sworn behind my back. I work to achieve these standards.

The other side of my job, so to speak, is my research work. What a blessing it is when your job is your joy. I do like research work and I do enjoy it in the extreme. I hope that I can contribute to the academic (linguistic) research work, the real academic enterprise that explores the untrodden continents of knowledge, constructs new cities in the already-known research worlds, repairs the damaged, old houses of ideas, and provides maintenance and enhances decoration of the palaces of genius. I hope I can.

Then comes my extra work, which is again a part of my world of joy, that is, translation. From English into Arabic and vice-versa, I translate in different and various domains of knowledge. For the incomparable difficulty of this time-and-effort-consuming process, I myself feel interested in translating only English poems into Arabic poetry, though more difficult it is. It is not a mere transformation of ideas from a source language into a target language; rather, it is basically a creative, challenging competition between two poets the second of whom asks the first for the challenge, yet he tries to prove that precedence in time does not always mean excellence. In other words, the ancestors, great and pioneering though they may be, are not always better than the descendants. I get into the translation of English poems with a great fascination towards the significant poem and the significant poet, but at the same time I feel motivated by the so-called anxiety of influence to translate and write my version so as to make my own poem a symbol of my self-achievement and an apt psychological compensation. "Have I succeeded or not?" is the question that I try to answer in the affirmative through my translation.

When I realize that a significant English poem is too English to translate, I seek refuge in my originally Arabic poems. I write on various themes, but my favorite theme is that which originates in all big existential questions of the man and the universe.

All these aspects of life are just lines in a face with no distinctive identity; reading is what turns lines into features and bestows an identity upon these features. Reading is simply what makes me who I am. I read and read and read in every field of life and in every domain of knowledge with the same enthusiasm and interest. I do adore the being called BOOK.

I hope you have started to know me by now: I SEEK "MENTAL PLEASURE" IN ALL THAT I DO. Still, in case you have not, just try to look around in my stuff, searching for an answer for my "Me?".

Friday, March 20, 2009

Who is Prof. Wit?

"Who is?" is really a BIG question, for it is the first step to a relationship and/or communication. It is the identity question that men of thought and literature talk about a lot. This is why we begin with an introduction to the character that is intended to initiate the topics of this blog.

Prof. Wit is the persona (I'll write sth abt this later, just as I hope to write abt every term I italicize) that I created to speak up my mind. Like every other writer, I will pretend that he is not the me that I want to be, not the personal version of the self-image just presented with some comic strokes as a self-ridiculing caricature, mostly loaded with wise sayings that sometimes sound quite humorous. I should conventionally deny that he is me -- but not because I am afraid that his daring words and attitudes might be attributed to me (It's a free country, isn't it?) or not because I feel shy to be that bold (You yourselves wish to be, don't you?).

I am the writer; that's it. I should put on the mask and pretend that what he says is not mine, and you are the participating addressees who should listen and comment, pretending that you believe the "lie." That is the charm of illusion.

Yet, we break the rule of the game and we suppress that glamorous charm the very moment I drop the mask of the artist and put on the glasses of the critic to unveil the hand of the theorist puppeteer. Still, I won't go on distorting the fascinating
effect
of defamiliarization. From now on, it is Prof. Wit that is going to talk and I am to shut up and listen (bt not always; good 4 me).

So
now, back to ur seats and cheer up cuz it's show time.